Apple will definitely exploit the move to USB-C as much as they can by firstly making it exclusive to Pro iPhones initially and probably only implement it for the rest of the line-up at the very last possible moment maximising the chances of consumers buying outdated Lightning devices and then having to upgrade in late 2024 or 2025 unless they want to remain in the Lightning for iPhones + USB-C for every other product hell moving forward.
I agree with your general point: This is a is mistake and governments have no business regulating something like this. It will stifle innovation and frankly I prefer Lightning connector to USB-C. But as for your point regarding the EU and cookie prompts, the companies have intentionally done this in the most awkward way possible to make it look like a burden. What they want is not to have to ask your permission at all to track everything you do online, which was how it was before the EU stepped in. Frankly I think they should simplify things further and ban cookies and other forms of surveillance capitalism, but that's just me.
Hope not. Because transfering raw photos and 4k videos wirelessly is sloooow.
I don't think they actually care about e-waste. Creating a common port seems to be a bigger deal than e-waste.
The first iPhone with two charge ports, one USBC and one Lightning 2.0, side by side 😂
Can you please point to me the massive I/O innovation that the EU is preventing Apple from implementing? What exactly have they done to upgrade the Lightning ports on its portable devices apart from briefly doing a USB 3.0 version of Lightning (for iPads Pro) and then ditching it entirely for its most capable, most "Pro" devices, iPads Pro, and opting for the cross-compatible USB-C/Thunderbolt on MacBooks and iPads?
I guess that's true if you don't use some sort of cloud photo library or need an immediate transfer to your computer and have an old wireless setup. Wifi 5 & 6 speeds are around 1 Gbs.
If you carry all of those things for camping without problem, I’m sure you can tuck in an extra cable.
Imagine 10 consumers who live ten separate lives. All of them go out and buy a bunch of new Apple and new non-Apple products but none of the product boxes come with chargers or cables.
That's a silly demand. Apple isn't going to announce what innovation they would have come up with without the EU regulation. The EU is basically ending competition for ports. Future changes will be decided by a standards body. This will undoubtedly slow innovation. If Apple planned something to replace lightning after a decade, they would have dropped the project because of the impending regulation.
In your scenario, but with my current setup, I'd be throwing out a bunch of lightning cables and USB-A chargers and buying new USB-C cables and chargers.
I have no idea what in the world people do to cables. I have never had one cable fail. And thats over a million travel miles and more than a dozen devices owned and used.
But after a few years there can be just one. If the iPhone and others don't change then there will be forever a mix.
Nah, Apple has adopted the standard USB-PD fast charging even with lightning. This is the part where I have to give them credit, for actually adopting a standard right away, unlike the various Android OEMs who are making their own fast charging proprietary methods.
Businesses don't make and sell their products to consumers in a vacuum that has no impact on societies or the environment at large.
